A Second Chance
by Scotty McShortsman
Summary: A second chance...a second chance given to him by the darkest beings only by coincidence. As the dark pits of insanity consume him, and he becomes the incarnate of the Juubi, a rare light smiles from the darkness to rescue him. Rated M for violence and future lemon. Sakura, Shion, and Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

**Just saying, this chapter isn't necessarily finished, I just wanted the input of the community for the part that's already written. Review critically, I don't care for flames but it's your opinion and you can have it. Ja ne...**

Sakura watched as Naruto's lifeless body fell to the ground with a heavy "thump!" The Akatsuki's cave that they were in only added to the reverberations of the noise. It seemed akatsuki had finally caught up to them. After all these years of sacrifice and hardship, it had all come down to this...to nothing.

Tears started to form along the edge of her eyes as she watched helplessly, her voice caught in her throat as she desperately tried to force herself to scream, but only tiny squeaks erupted as she broke down from the inside out. "Hehehe..." The akatsuki member known as Deidara chuckled to himself, the glee evident in his eyes. "What are you going to do now..._Sakura?_" He emphasized the name as if to mock her.

"There is no Lady Chiyo to save the jinchurriki's pathetic life this time. His fate is decided, un. Now that the final tailed demon has been sealed into the monument, the rebirth of a new world is at hand, Akatsuki ruling all Shinobi nations. Isn't it beautiful, un?" The smug look never left his face the entire time he was talking.

Naruto's body was starting to rapidly pale, she knew his soul was gone, stolen from him when the Kyuubi was sealed away for the Akatsuki's use. Tears fell from her crouched form, falling onto the blond's cold lips over which she hunched.

Sakura finally couldn't take it any longer. She mustered up everything she had and yelled "You fucking asshole!"

In a fit of anger she dove at the Akatsuki scout, standing on one of his many clay birds that he so often rode. The move was so sudden that he had no time to react, he was toppled over and knocked to the cavern floor, along with the pink haired medic atop of him swinging violently with the full punching force of an explosive kunai at point blank.

Deidara was only barely able to dodge them, she managed to graze him a few times but she was so enraged that her vision had begun to blur and she lost focus as well. Desperately he kawarimed with a loose rock nearby, Sakura's fist smashing into it and obliterating it as soon as it appeared in the way of her fist.

The enraged medic nin looked up with the fury of the world in her eyes. Deidara dug his hands into his clay pouch as quickly as he could. Clay sculpture after clay sculpture was thrown as fast as he could make him. _"Shit, it's too small in here to effectively fight on the offensive with her. She's too fast to allow me to escape too. Why the hell did Sasori have to die back then?"_

"_I'm gonna have to use C4 on her, this isn't what I expected to happen!"_ he thought to himself panicking. The large amount of clay that came into his hands surprised Sakura. Deidara looked from both hands to Sakura with a smirk. "Let's see how you handle this eh, you little bitch!"

Sakura launched herself off of the monstrous face carved into the wall, the monument that held all of the tailed demons. The clay sculpture soared through the air towards her. It seemed to be in slow motion to Sakura as she twisted her body in mid-air, narrowly avoiding the white, clay bomb. It was just behind her when the yell "Katsu!" reached her. Her eyes trailed back in realization to the figurine as the explosion rocked her forward and bent her form from the blast. The flames nipped at her back as she flew through the air.

But a worse something was happening right then than the explosion, when compared to it, it was nothing. The ominous and demonic face now had a large gaping wound impacted into it, it seemed to also be falling apart, as if it was breaking down from the inside out. The two upright hands crumbled at the base and blew apart upon hitting the ground. Each intact eye that was still left on the statue began to glow...blue, white, gold, crimson, and finally orange. It was the final color, that as Sakura watched lying beaten and bloody and burnt upon the ground, gave her an understanding as to what was happening. The tailed beasts...they were escaping.

Five more colors began to grow from nothingness, joining the others in a swirling rippling typhoon in the air above Naruto's lifeless body. The colors combining to form a pitch black funnel.

The speed of the typhoon intensified drastically and quickly shot down into the lifeless body below them. The sight was spectacular and horrifying all at once. Sakura simply couldn't take it anymore, the stress that was put on her body and the sight before her forced her mind to go into shock, unconsciousness following soon after.

"_Where am I?"_ Naruto looked from left to right, confused, yet calm as to what was happening. He had no clothes, no headband that he always wore, and it was simply a sea of white surrounding him. Everywhere he looked he saw an empty void. _"I suppose I died, huh. Damn, wish ero-sensei or Iruka sensei were here right now. Where are they anyways, they should be here if I died! Here to welcome the hero home, huh?"_

He closed his eyes and opened them, he looked around curiously for a second, it seemed as if the white void was not nearly as white anymore. It seemed to have turned to a darker shade. The void started to darken more and more until the only thing that he could see was the hand in front of his face, even that soon faded out of sight. A dark growl echoed all around him, it was familiar, yet different at the same time, it seemed to be made of several different tones at once. One he recognized instantly when he heard it.

"_Kyuubi?"_

"**No longer mortal, your world's Kyuubi no longer exists and never did truly exist at all, your pathetic minds simply cannot comprehend the concept of such things. I am, Juubi"**

Naruto looked on passively, not even phased by the intimidating voice around him. _"Where am I then, you seem to be more informed than I am..."_

"**You have been here before...it is your mindscape."**

"_But I died, they pulled my soul and the Kyuubi's from my body. How can I possibly be in my mindscape if I'm dead?"_

"**I have seen fit to reward you, as the last remaining carrier of the demons. You have protected the bit of soul that was stored within you longer than anyone else. You're life will be restored...one word of advice, do not tarry upon religion and other such trivial obsessions, for nothing awaits you at the end. I am there...and nothing else."**

Naruto looked on with cold eyes, he noticed his hands starting to fade away. Quickly he was gone...

Naruto's eyes sprang open, his lungs filled with air like he was just being born into the world, the smell of the earth around him filled his nostrils. He was reborn.

The first thing he saw was pink bubble gum hair, the girl that it belonged wedged between two boulders. Her eyes closed and unmoving. The second thing he saw was a blond haired man hovering at the far side of the closed off cavern on top of a white bird.

He glanced back down to Sakura's crumpled form. He started to shake, tears formed in his eyes as he looked on. He whispered to himself "Dead, she's gone, that's impossible. I came back, how could she have left?"

He once again started to tremble, only this time in anger.

He was once again transported into his mindscape, except this time it was different, the normal pipes that led along the walls were now gone, large silver and black tunnels connected throughout now, the paths were all the same though, so he figured he wasn't really lost. The water on the ground had disappeared and was replaced with a fine mist. He walked through the tunnels to Kyuubi's old cage, he expected it to be empty, but he was wrong. There the Kyuubi sat, snout pressed to the bars as always. The only thing was the room had expanded drastically and nine more cages occupied it. Each tailed beast sat in their separate cage, seething with anger.

The major change to the room though was now the circular onyx gate that took up all remaining floor area, extending to each cage and the opening of the room. Naruto could only guess as to what was inside of it, he's a pretty good guesser though and was right.

There lay the Juubi, the one rinnegan eye oozing with barely suppressed fury. **"Well, what have you come here for?"**

"I didn't, I was brought here against my will. What's happened, why are you and the rest of these demons here?"

"**The seal, that wretched seal that sits atop the ceiling there." **All ten tails pointed in unison upwards.

Naruto looked towards where they were pointing to see a large circular piece of paper with the world seal etched within. It was similar to the original except for the constant repeating of the Kanji for "Totality" all around the outside.

The blond smiled as he realized what this meant, after his training on the island with Killer Bee, Naruto had successfully learned how to control the Kyuubi. This though gave him the initiative to start studying seals and the art of sealing. The seal that lay above led him understand that he now had control over every tailed beast. He's not power hungry like Sasuke is, but the thought of it still made him giddy. He used to fear the Kyuubi's power, in fear of it hurting his precious people, but after learning to control it he no longer was afraid. Now that he had the Juubi on his side, he only felt more confident.

He came back to reality, still standing in the same spot, as if no time had passed. He felt down to his core, feeling for the usual demonic presence that usually resided within. The darkness that was originally there that came from the Kyuubi was nothing compared to that of the Juubi. He actually shivered from the pure evil that inhabited him.

Closing his eyes he started pull up and release the dark energy from within. His eyes widened instantly in pain as ten waving tails erupted from his back. They each latched onto the walls of the cavern around them, and lifted him into the air. His eyes soon became bloodshot from the intense pain, that never seemed to subside. The giddiness from before was no longer present. Each tail seemed to move on it's own, no control was able to be used.

The ten tails launched themselves off of the walls straight towards the hovering white clay bird. The surprise etched over Deidara's face was almost comical if not for the situation at hand.

The tails surrounded him instantly, no visible body party in sight, just the movement of the tails giving any indication as to what was happening, that and the constant spray of blood coupled with the screams of a dying and tortured man.

The pain stirred Naruto on, it no longer bothered him. Even though every single nerve felt like it was on fire, it didn't seem to be from pain anymore, more like the ecstasy of the kill. The giddiness was now back, something more along with it. Naruto walked over to the heap of mangled limbs, the blood still seeping through the ground. "Hehehe...Hahahaha...HAHAHAHA!"

The sanity from his eyes long gone as he laughed continuously.

The caved in entrance was pulled apart stone by stone by each pitch black tail. Naruto looked back into the cave, a demented gleam in his eye.

Sakura awoke to the smell of fresh air. The trees outside swayed back and forth to the rhythm of nature.

Looking around, she noticed Naruto's body was no longer laying where it had been. It was now gone and the cavern demolished, two large boulders had her wedged, but two swings and they were gone, no longer a hindrance.


	2. Chapter 2

"Naruto! NARUTO!" Sakura screamed.

Desperately she looked left and right, as if her only lifeline was the sight of her teammate's golden hair.

She quickly ran back into the cavern, throwing rocks and boulders, hysterically searching for her only want in the world. She glanced up at the large remains of the statue that previously dominated the rock cavern's far wall. Suddenly the memories came back to her, the destruction of the face, her defeat, and lastly Naruto's death.

Sakura collapsed to her knees, crying in agony at the mere thought. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she sobbed like she had when she was a child. _"He's gone… he's actually gone…" _

She lay on the ground for what seemed like years to her, unable to gain the will to properly stand up. Sakura finally fell asleep on the hard ground after hours of crying, having exhausted every last bit of energy she had left.

She awoke to the lonely rustle of the leaves in the wind, only the utter silence following them. Sakura propped herself onto one knee and shakily rose to her feet, steadying herself as she went. She glanced around morbidly.

"_Not even a body to take back…"_ She resolved. Resigning herself she turned west towards Konoha.

One last tear escaped her as she trekked towards home, leaving the cavern behind her.

* * *

Naruto awoke with a hunger in his eyes that had never been there before. "Ahh, this is nice…" He whispered to himself. A hint of something in his voice would've made shivers run down another person's spine.

He stood and stretched, his torn and bloodied upper part of his orange jumpsuit seemed to be falling off at the seams. He pulled it off with ease and threw it onto the bank of a small stream that was near. "Apparently new attire seems to be in order." The pants were still usable so he left them on. It wouldn't do for tales of a naked wild man living in the forests to start circulating.

Leaving the shirt behind he continued through the large forest heading east.

He lifted his nose to the air, sniffing like a hound on the hunt. The sea, he could smell it. The salt wafted in loads now into his nostrils, it almost made him want to puke it was so overwhelming. His nostrils flared taking in the odor, eventually he became used to it.

"_My sense of smell is overwhelming, my senses have sharpened since last."_ Naruto though to himself as he walked further through the lush forest. As he did so he was being studied by two familiar ninjas from his earlier days, hiding in the dense foliage above.

"Hah, brother, he's insane. Doesn't seem to have much on him though, kinda be a waste to use our poison on fool like him huh?"

Yeah, but I've been itching for some blood lately, how 'bout we say we put him out of his misery before he goes any further."

"Alright bro, your lead."

Naruto's eyes narrowed as his sensitive ears picked up the sound of rustling leaves from above. He quickly sidestepped once and then again as two chain gauntlets slashed at his head in quick succession. Back flipping and in the process hitting one of the nins in the face, Naruto successfully evaded them.

"My, my, I didn't think to see you two again...Demon brothers." A smirk escaped his composure at the sight of confusion on the two ninjas face. "Ah, so I see you don't remember me, no matter, you won't have to soon enough."

At a speed none could follow Naruto moved to the first brother, the one with the large spike sticking from his head plate, and tore out his throat. The second brother stared at the gurgling mess beside him as the blond monster in front of him turned his gaze towards him. He couldn't see his eyes, as they were covered in shadow, but from the darkness the two white eyes with a blue center…slowly turned to a purple, with black rings and tomoes along each line. His eyes widened in horror, the life quickly snuffed out of them. The only sign of the brothers existence was the resounding echo that swam through the forest.

Naruto bent down to the two mutilated bodies. His eyes were eventually drawn to the two gauntlets that each wore, connected by a single chain, these were both intimidating weapons…if only the users were as much as their weapons. One more gleam caught his eye, the brother he killed first, the one with the two horns sticking from his head band. Naruto eyed the head gear that he was wearing and decided he took a liking to it. He went to run his hand through his hair and touched a band surrounding his brown line. Curiously he untied it, it was a black piece of cloth with a metal plate with an inscribed emblem into it. _"Good bye Konoha. The burden I leave behind is now gone, I never have to resign myself to that rotten excuse for a village again." h_e mused silently to himself.

Grabbing the horns of the mask he ripped the mist insignia off, tossing it onto one of the bodies. "Hehe, should've stayed with your village, probably would've worked out better for you."

Adorning the brother's cloak and mask, he adjusted the gauntlets till he was comfortable with their fit on his arms. He made to move but was suddenly caught in mid-step by the chain that hung from each glove. With a heavy drop, he smashed his foot into the metal links and severed them in two. Feeling for the mechanism inside each glove, he retracted the separate lengths into both hands.

Checking his surrounding he set off again, to what he was sure was the nearby coast.

Sakura lifted her gaze up to settle on the great gates that lay before her. Izumo and Kotetsu were doing their daily routine of bickering and not paying any attention to their actual duties, it almost made her smile. She couldn't take it any longer though, as she crossed the thresh-hold of the gates she collapsed from exhaustion, having emptied her canteen and food rations days ago. The thud stopped both ninjas bickering long enough to notice the pink haired medic nin unconscious on the ground. "What the…Kotetsu, stay here and watch for trouble, I've gotta get her to the hospital immediately, I can barely feel her pulse!"

Kotetsu nodded as Izumo jumped away carrying the girl away as quickly as he could.

Naruto stopped to look at the feat that lay before him. "The Great Naruto Bridge huh, well aren't I special hahahahaha!"

He trudged onto the large concrete mass making his way through the large crowd of merchants and civilians alike that were constantly crossing the large gap of water via the bridge.

"_Ohh, how this place brings back memories!" _He commented inward.

It wasn't until halfway over the bridge did he feel something different. The entire time he had been traveling that day, he never once questioned why he was going towards the coast, only that it felt right. It was at this moment that a tug on his mind seemed to confuse him. He felt a sudden yearning towards something, he didn't know what but it was there and it was close. It steadily strengthened as he grew closer and closer to the now quite large village.

Naruto searched frantically with his eyes, he didn't know what it was but he was now hysterical. He felt like he was addicted to it and was suffering from withdrawal. Suddenly a harsh pull on his mind jerked his head towards a large cliff that overlooked the village. Seeing an elderly man near he grabbed him by the shoulder to stop him.

"Old man, what is up on that hill there…answer me, now!"

The old man just smiled and shakily pointed towards the cliff face. "Why do you want to go up there, noth'n up there anyhow but them two weird graves…and that huge sword."

Naruto's eyes widened. _"That sword, what is this feeling? I've never felt anything like it. I almost feel like its calling to me. I've never felt such a strong pull like this before. " _Naruto raced up the small switchbacks that were carved into the side of the cliff. A small meadow, rimmed by large pines stood at the top.

At the edge of the pines two small mounds stuck up from the many wild flowers that grew throughout the area. A gleam caught Naruto's eye, the sun reflecting it right at him, as if he was being called to it. Two crosses stood erected atop each mound. A small belt hung from the smaller grave. Naruto walked up to it and froze. He knew where he was now. An old voice that he had not heard in many years spoke to him as if it were back then. "Keep those that you treasure most near, fight for your precious persons."

"Haku…" Naruto whispered. A flash of blue quickly appeared in his eyes before they returned to the black rings.

Shaking himself he grabbed the blade and jumped off of the cliff to the village below, landing in front of a startled youn boy.

He stood to look at the boy in front of him. "Na-Naruto-sama?" The child asked hesitantly, staring into his eyes, widening slowly.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he realized that the hood he had been relying on to conceal himself from the villagers eyes had flown back from the drop off the cliff. In an instant he disappeared, reappearing at the opening of the bridge, fearful for the first time since he left the cave.

* * *

Sakura lay in the Konoha hospital hooked up to an IV. Tsunade looked at her worriedly, it was until then that she noticed she was missing her favorite blond son. She stepped outside to catch a passing nurse. "Excuse me have you seen Naruto by any chance?"

"No mam, last I heard he left with Sakura-san two weeks ago on a mission. Aren't they due back soon?"

"Sakura is right here, she came back yesterday." Tsunade answered.

"I'm not sure what to tell you then Hokage-sama."

With a worried expression, Tsunade let the nurse go.

She was jerked back to the bed when a slight groan caught her attention. "Mmm, Naruto, where are you?"

"Sakura? Can you hear me, Sakura?"

The pink haired medic slowly opened her eyes, as she did so they widened in sadness. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she stuttered and forced herself to speak. "Tsunade-sama, I'm sorry, I couldn't…they overwhelmed us…Deidara a-and..."

"Shh, Sakura slow down, now tell me, who did?" Tsunade asked fearfully.

In only a whisper "…Akatsuki…"

The Hokage's eyes widened in realization. "And Naruto, where is he!" She knew she didn't need to ask though, she could already see the answer on the girls face.

Sakura couldn't bare it, she forced her head away unable to look Tsunade in the eyes.

The blond Hokage fell onto the chair beside her, unable to grasp what she had been told. One of her worst fears realized.

Naruto, her own little ball of sunshine was dead. She had never thought it possible.

Slowly, tears began to seep, pouring down like the rains of Ame. She laid her head next to Sakura's, trying to keep herself steady for the young medic ninja. She knew the girl needed her more than ever right now, but it almost too much to bare though.

* * *

Naruto crossed over the bridge contemplating about young Inari. _"Inari is sure to alert Konoha if they ever come this way, whether he knows or not is debatable, should I kill him? Maybe, it really would be the best choice and safest but I doubt he even really understands whats going on. If he does maybe I'll get to see some old friends…"_

Naruto laughed to himself. If someone happened to look closely at that point they might have sworn that the black ringed eyes grew in intensity and darkness. The old Naruto was now pulling further and further away from reality, to be buried deep within his sub-conscious.

* * *

Naruto's Mindscape

A naked Naruto woke up. Deep growls brought Naruto up into recognition. He shot up like a bullet and quickly readied into a fighting stance only to stop when he saw what the source of the growls emanated from. Remembering from earlier, he lowered his guard and took a more relaxed yet still wary pose. The nine cages which housed each of the tailed beasts surrounded him. The tenth cage which the Juubi was currently imprisoned in expanded and contracted as the Juubi fought endlessly against the cage that bound it even thought it was futile.

The seal that lay above still held strong but held no sign of breaking. One thing that he did notice though was that the walls around him looked cracked and decayed, was this what his mind was mirroring on the outside. Naruto looked around at himself, he felt all there.

"Naruto…"

The blond whipped around to come face to face with none other than himself. All the growls stopped immediately as his name was called, even the Juubi's fighting ceased.

Well almost himself, everything except the hair. "Ar-are you me?" Naruto asked.

"No, but if I do say so myself you're quite good looking. Kinda reminds me of someone I know…oh yes, I know, me! Haha!" The man reminded Naruto vaguely of the Akatsuki member Tobi, or was it Madara?

Naruto stared blankly at the man as he continued to laugh at his own joke. Having enough he shouted attempting to catch his attention. "Hey!"

The formerly jovial silver haired clone of him took on a more serious demeanor immediately. "Now, now Naruto-kun. You better learn to take things a little less serious. We're gonna be in here for a long time you and me, now's the time to train and if you don't lighten up you may go just as insane as your consciousness on the outside."

Naruto gave a quizzical look and asked "What do you mean insane? What's happened?"

"Oh you mean you don't know, I thought you would've kept up with the times. Hehe…"

"I just woke up, I have no idea what you're babbling on about."

"Oh sure you just woke up, but that was because you wanted too finally. You were content to simply hide in your mind all this time until now, you could have woken any time you wanted but you're weak, weak like the villages that your civilizations so desperately cling to. Weak like your leaders, no self reliance, a pathetic will, I could go on."

"Who are you to judge me, I've beaten some of the worst people out there! You don't know anything about me!"

"Oh you mean Nagato and his Pains, ha, a jest! They are mere figments of my imagination compared to the power that I once held when I lived. No one could compare to me, do you not realize who you're talking to? Do you not wonder why each of these demons cowers in fear behind their cages? The answer is there for you to see Naruto my boy, just reach further into your mind and it'll come."

"Are you-"

"Yes, keep going!"

"the Rikudou Sage?"

"BINGO!"

Naruto looked on in disbelief at the man before him. "How, why are you here, in my mind with me?"

"Well Naruto I'm just as much a part of you as you are of me, that and the fact that mine and the Juubi's souls are linked. You see, each of these filthy mongrels that cower around us hold a piece of the Juubi's and my soul, and when they all came together I was reborn per say into your consciousness. Since I have no body to inhabit I've taken up residence in yours…"

Naruto's eyes widened at that, but was quickly reassured that he could in no way take over his body. Not like it would have mattered considering Naruto was trapped within his mind while his physical body ran amok.

"So why do we look alike? You are ages older than anyone and yet you look just as young and exactly like me."

"Well it may be hard to believe but you are in fact my eternal reincarnation. Years and years ago, when the age of ninja had first begun I made a pact with the Shinigami on my death bed with the use of a forbidden technique. As the demons broke free from their gates to be unleashed upon the earth, the Shinigami allowed me to continue living in order for me to fight the bastards. He bestowed upon me gifts no man had ever seen, what you now call chakra I named it the inner power. Eventually all the demons were defeated except one…the Juubi. Every demon paled in comparison to its power, I had never seen something so monstrous and yet at the same time awe inspiring."

Naruto stood gaping at the man as he told his story.

"I was able to track it to the far reaches of the earth, to continents that no longer exist. As I watched it from a nearby cliff, a white hot light fell all around me. I knew immediately that it was Kami…Kami was on my side that day…I seized my blessed staff and faced the monster. I could tell that it sensed something as it seized up and its tails whipped quicker than ever before. The ugl-"

"And then I kicked your ass you little Twerp!" The Juubi exclaimed boastingly.

The Sage eyed the demon with annoyance. "Yes, indeed you did oh mighty and exalted Juubi…and that's why you're locked inside the body of a human isn't it, huh?" The sage ended the sentence with a grin, angering the demon.

"The Juubi is right though, by the end of the battle I was losing quite badly. Kami was with me through the entire battle though, talking to me and carrying me through it. Even Kami was struggling with the events upon the mortal realm, as they reflected through the ethereal plane as well. Kami was fighting her own battle in heaven while I was fighting mine."

"So how did you win, the legends say that you won without trouble. You're the Legendary Sage of the Six Paths!"

"The same way your father did…I used the death god summoning pact. Shinigami ripped mine and the Juubi's soul to shreds and bound together the separate pieces and scattered them all around the realm in the form of the legendary tailed beasts."

"Kami rewarded me with a second chance though, just as I believe you have been given one also. You should've died in the cavern…the sudden influx of different chakra sources should've ripped your body and soul to pieces, something kept this from happening though, I believe that like me, Kami has rewarded you."

"Why though? There are plenty of men who are much better than I am…hell, my sensei Kakashi is a better ninja than I am! Me, I just tend to get lucky is all!"

"Believe what you want Naruto but you have been chosen for this because of who you are and what you've done during your life. You've shown unending caring for a man who nearly killed you, never ending determination in front of impossible odds. Everyday you continue to prove the villagers who saw you as an outcast, a monster, and an abomination wrong."

Naruto gave a sigh and gave in to the sage's will. "What do I have to do then? I'm stuck inside my own mind and I have no way of getting out."

"Fight, regain your soul, each demon here holds a piece of our souls. Defeat each demon one on one and you'll be able to leave. Your soul is currently just a big mess with your consciousness in the middle…which is what you are"

The sage looked at him carefully, waiting for a response…

"But how am I supposed to do that?"

"you've already beaten the ichibi tanuki so we all know that this isn't impossible…after you beat him you gain his strength and powers inside your mind and you're physical and real body gains the same attributes. Virtually you become the ichibi in real life…"

Naruto stood gaping at what he had just been told…The ichibi's powers…forever. If he beat the rest of the demons he would be nearly unstoppable, that was assuming he could win against all nine…ten demons.

Naruto was not power hungry by any means, but even that much raw power would make the most humble man stop for a moment. Also there was no way around gaining this power…if this is what it would take to regain control of his own mind and body then he would do it.

Naruto looked at the sage nervously… "And what happens if I don't win?"

"Your soul is devoured by the demons…so you better win."

"Damn…fine, let's do this."

Naruto stepped into the middle of the room, still naked and readied himself…from earlier on to this point he had not felt any presence of his chakra. Suddenly he felt a sudden surge funnel back into him. It was an amazing feeling, it felt like being born again. Naruto stepped forward confidently as the one tailed tanuki was released also.

Naruto quickly charged up a rasengan and jumped in to fight the ichibi.

A Short Time Later

Naruto crashed to the floor riding the ichibi all the way down. He jumped off to the bottom letting the one tail crash behind him.

He watched as the ichibi's body collapsed and crumbled into sand, billowing out to cover the entire room before suddenly wrapping itself around him. He took a deep breath as the golden sand swirled around him slowly. What little light there was glittered off the many crystals and bright rocks within. They all just as suddenly fell to the floor again. The strength he felt now was immense, almost like nothing he'd ever even imagined.

Naruto held out his fist and willed the sand to react to his command. Small amounts of the grain jumped at his grasp, more and more obeyed his command as time went on. Soon he could make much larger torrents of the sand react to his very thoughts…he now had full control over it, to such a magnitude that rivaled the Ichibi's very own…much more than Gaara's grasp of control.

Naruto looked at the sage with a smile "…bring 'em on."

The silver haired sage gave a nod.

The second gate, which held the Niibi, swung open allowing the demon cat to pounce out and begin a vicious onslaught upon him. Naruto had to be careful to look where he landed because wherever and whatever the Niibi touched became flame. All along the floor were spots of purple flame. He didn't want to know what would happen if he touched those.

Naruto decided to use these spots of fire to his own advantage, the Niibi didn't seem to be affected by its own fire so Naruto decided to replace those with his own weapons. Naruto gathered up sand to use and flung it towards one of the fires, changing it into a spike as it flew. When it touched the flames it turned to glass immediately. He did the same to all of the other spots of fire along the floor and room. Monstrous spikes and dangerous ridges now littered the room, a death trap for anything too big.

Naruto collected his remaining sand and watched triumphantly as the large cat studied the intricate maze of the shards of glass. The smirk lessened though when it started to shrink in size to his height. He could no longer even see it; it was using the ridges and spikes as cover. He would catch a glimpse of it every now and then. The fleeting purple flame would reflect off one shard of glass to another. What Naruto was seeing next to him was possibly on the other side of the chamber. He was once again the hunted. In this deadly game of cat and mouse he was the mouse.

A large roar behind him caused him to jump, just in time also as the Niibi landed exactly where he had just been standing. The piercing purple eyes tracked him as he jumped from shard to shard.

Naruto had, had enough of being the mouse in this game… It was time to become the hunter.


	3. Chapter 3

"I've (huff)… had enough of this…" Naruto gasped, straining to continue. He looked up to see the large cat look at him suddenly.

Naruto ducked out of the way as the Niibi pounced, leaving a large indention in the floor that he had just recently occupied.

Yelling, "Fuuton Renkuudan!" Naruto released an air bullet in an effort to slow the demon down. As he expected though the large cat simply slid to the left and continued the chase. _"Shit, shit…what am I supposed to do?"_

He ducked in and out of the large arrays of glass shards that littered the room vainly trying to outrun the incredibly agile demon.

He looked back only to be blind-sided by the feline, thrown straight into a sharp glass ridge. "Damn that hurts!" He cursed.

"To hell with this, if Gaara can transform then so can I!" He yelled, remembering their fight years ago during the Chunnin Exams. Dodging behind a quick piece of cover he willed his form to shift, desperately trying to grow or transform or…something!

Just as he thought he failed, he felt a swoosh behind him, looking back he was astounded to see a fully tangible tan colored tail, not a chakra one like the incomplete Kyuubi that he so often was forced to use.

Once again he was thrown across the room after being hit from the side. This time though instead of crashing into the wall or a shard of glass he stopped in mid-air as the tail shot out and split into separate strands and stabilized him while he flew.

Willing the tail to set him back down, he looked across the room to see the Niibi weaving in between the maze coming towards him. Backing up slightly he readied himself.

The demon appeared around a corner and shot straight towards him without a second's hesitation. Just as the demon flew through the air Naruto lashed out with his newly formed tail dashing the ancient cat against the walls.

The Niibi shook itself before snarling and circling the blond before it. "So the human does have some backbone, this might just be fun after all."

Naruto was shocked to hear the beast speak, much less that it's voice was feminine.

Clearing his head he readied himself for another attack. Roaring, the cat launched itself forward, nimbly dodging or parrying the blows from Naruto's tail as they struck at her one after another.

Rearing back, the cat swiped a fiery claw at the blond only for it to be blocked by a cocoon of sand, leaving a streak of glass on the surface from the heat.

"Hahaha, I think I could really get used to this. Never having to worry about being hit again!" Naruto continued to laugh while dodging the cat using his sand to shield blows that would have otherwise been fatal.

"Fine, let's see how you like this then!" Nibi roared.

Naruto watched as she leapt into the air and while in mid-jump grew to her normal size. Reaching the peak of her jump, she rushed back down to the ground. Naruto realized even with his barrier that she would easily make it through. Hell, even one fiery claw would pierce the rather minute dome in comparison to the large cat soaring down. Naruto then did the only he could think of, he didn't even really mean to, it was more of just instinct.

Naruto burst from the cocoon and started to grow rapidly, he reached about half of the Niibi's size just as she reached him, it still only being able barely hold her off, straining he managed to fling her away so that he could catch his breath.

His hands on his knees breathing hard, he looked down to see that his feet had formed those of a twisted shukaku's. His surface of his feet seemed to continuously move back and forth, forming and retracting to the shape of something close to those of a tree's trunk, with roots sprawling everywhere. His hands while similarly changed still retained their shape mostly, looking more like Shukaku's than his own though, they still seemed to move of their own accord.

"It's time to end this…" Naruto started pulling every grain of sand towards him that he could, some seemed to just be appearing out of thin air as it flowed towards him.

Niibi watched in semi-satisfaction. _"Heh, there's no way I'm getting past this now…I guess if I had to go down I'd want it to be by someone like him at least." _

"Ready or not gaki here I come!" she roared charging forward for the last time.

Calming himself Naruto decided to take a page out of Gaara's book. Twisting the sand to his will he forced it take hold of Niibi. Wave after wave of sand cascaded over her. _"Haha, yep, this is the end…"_

Forming the seals, Naruto shouted "Desert Requiem!"

The small desert that now covered the entirety of the floor compacted, snuffing the life force of what was inside.

Sensing no movement Naruto dropped his head tiredly. He jerked it back up though when small blue flames started to jump and dance over the sand towards him, wrapping around his body before dispelling and leaving Naruto feeling strangely refreshed.

A burning sensation started to follow along his body, his nerves being hyper sensitive to any small movement he made. A faint blue glow formed around him before it just disappeared leaving Naruto exactly as he was earlier.

Staring at his open palm, he jumped when a burst of flame suddenly appeared from nowhere. _"How'd I do that? I didn't mean too…" _Naruto pondered this trying to figure out what caused it, all he seemed to be able to recall was his skin feeling like it was on fire and him thinking of himself by a fire…That was it, Fire! He had to think of fire to create it.

The first thing that came to mind when he thought of fire, was Sasuke, his old team-mate and his fire element techniques. He focused himself, allowing himself to calm down before unexpectedly releasing two large jets of searing flame from each palm in front him. They twist and rose into the air till they reached their peak and the head of a dragon formed at the top. It looked beautiful, more lifelike and surreal than any other form of dragon that an element took when used. Its body spiraled in the air waiting to be used, if Naruto was still a kid he would have stopped and gazed at it like he used to when the merchant's carnival came to the village on its annual visit and performed cheap tricks and jutsus.

Gaining a small idea, he dismissed the fire beast before focusing once again. This time when he released the flame he shot it in bursts, accompanied by a small spear of sand with each burst. As soon as either element left his hand they fused together to form a piercing glass bullet that would tear through just about anything Naruto theorized, especially at the speed of which it flew.

Naruto spun around, blasting the glass bullets left and right excitedly like a small child, laughing his head off as he did so. He didn't know why but for some reason it was exceedingly fun!

"Alright, let's do this…" He announced confidently, staring the three tails down in its cage. Rearing up on its hind legs it pushed itself forward and crashed through the cage bars. Naruto raised an eyebrow at this new revelation, for a tortoise… this demon was quite fast.

"Well, here goes nothing…again."

"RRAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHH!" Naruto jumped out of the way as the demon roaring, thrust its body forward. Doing the same as he had been for the last half hour now.

"Crap, so this is the three tails power? Well this sucks…" Naruto rolled his eyes at his luck in all of this, and just generally his lot in life.

About five minutes into the fight the Sanbi had realized that it was constantly being slowed down by the sand; its answer, to flood the entire damn room with water.

Now Naruto was currently running across the small lake that they were fighting on, constantly jumping and doging and missing by a hairs breath each time. _"Damn, seems like this room is getting smaller and smaller."_ He thought to himself.

Lashing out with its tails the Sanbi whipped them towards the blond only for said blond to dodge in mid-air.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT! I'm gona die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!" Naruto repeated as he landed and continuously dodged the endless swipes and lashes from the Sanbi.

"What the hell, it's just an overgrown turtle! Why are you such a dick to kill?"

Dodging another bone-crushing slam from the tail, Naruto got an idea. _"How the hell did I forget about that?"_

Latching himself to a wall he faced off with the Sanbi. Naruto's eyes narrowed as the tortoise prepared to deliver a killing blow. At that moment Naruto launched off the wall straight into the eye of the bijuu.

The giant toroise roared in pain giving Naruto time enough to jump the exposed monster's mouth. The biju stopped in surprise as it felt the human it just swallowed.

Naruto looked around in the familiar surroundings. It had been at least two years since he and Guren were swallowed by the three-tails and it still wasn't being anywhere near fun. The same hard-as-steel guts were obviously still here and still posed the same trouble as last time...well almost.

Naruto jogged down the long corridors. After about half an hour of running he heard a light thumping sound. This was what he had been looking for this entire time down here and the reason for being swallowed. The further he ran the louder the vibrations and pounding grew. It soon became almost deafening to his ears.

"Gah, you're loud." Naruto said, speaking to no one in particular.

Soon he was standing directly beside where he knew the heart to be. Closing his eyes, he slowly breathed in feeling the area around him, searching for a weak spot with his chakra...

THERE! A small mound on the side that flexed with each beat. That was his opening, his ace in the hole.

Naruto focused all of his energy towards the center of the small hump.

Dozens of tendrils of sand all shot out like spears, converging on their target. Accompanied by the Nibi's fire, the tips grew to blades hard as diamond, capable of piercing anything in its way...well, almost anything. It seemed that there was a reason that the three tails was better than the two before it...it was hard as hell to beat.

The blades crashed against the supposedly soft mound and shattered on impact, breaking into thousands of tiny, razor sharp shards. Naruto shook his head in dissapointment until a faint shuffling sound started to echo around him. His right eyebrow popped up in confusion at the sound till realization hit.

Realization, small turtles that are hard as hell, whats the difference?

Naruto was knocked to the ground as a miniature Sanbi landed on his head nearly giving him a concussion from the force behind it. It was soon followed by more as Naruto struggled to get up without being pelted by dozens of angry little turtles. There were a lot less than last time he was in here but he knew that wouldn't last. The rest of the hive would be here soon and he hadn't the time nor the energy to deal with them.

Naruto jumped to the ceiling to try to strategize and decide his next move, what he did not expect was for the miniatures to jump after him. He dodged out of the way in surprise as they collided with the ceiling, barely missing him. "What in Kami-sama's name was that? I don't remember them being able to do that before!"

It had seemed that the hive had learned a few new tricks while he was away. Unfortunately for him, he had no idea how to counter it.

Naruto spent the next ten minutes dodging and weaving between and through the clusters that attacked him, trying to decipher a way to stay alive.

One of the larger tortoises threw itself at him. He was only half-way paying attention and almost paid dearly for it as it's intended projection of motion was towards his nether regions, at a rather quick speed. He looked on just in time to see it and sent a quick jab with his foot out to it's face. Only after what felt like nearly breaking his ankle, the creature rebounded off of his foot directly into the wall. What surprised Naruto was what he saw afterwards.

Behind the recently kicked turtle were the signs of cracking and fractures in the wall. Diamond wasn't hard enough to damage it but it seemed that the sanbi itself was. The hardest known object in the universe turns out was the three tailed turtle. Naruto turned his gaze back to the forgotten vulnerable, pulsing area on the wall.

He quickly took up a stance that best suited his new plan. The small creatures readied themselves at that point for a full on rush. As they launched themselves Naruto reared back and let loose. One after another, turtle after turtle, they sailed towards the soft part of the wall, gradually wearing down and cracking the parts next to it. Finally the same tortoise from last time, with fire in it's eyes and revenge in it's heart leapt at him with all the strength that it could muster. Naruto met it with as much determination and force, shooting it towards the worn patch on the wall victoriously.

The extremely pissed of creature hit the target directly. With a sharp cracking sound the wall broke under the force revealing the heart chamber that Naruto had been desperately for the last hour been trying to reach. The chamber was just that though, a chamber, a pitt, a canyon, a big freaking hole(if you will)!

Naruto ran to the destroyed wall and barely saved himself from falling in by grabbing a small intact segment of the crumbling wall. Pulling himself up from the edge, he breathed a sigh of relief as he stared at the massive muscle that continued to beat strongly in front of him. Now that the wall was destroyed and he was face to face with the heart, the noise was almost tripled in intensity.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, he knew that this would not be able to stand to his diamond like spears this time. This was the weak part, the achilles heel. He launched every bit of sand in him that he could muster, not reserving any at all. He grinned in victory as the spears of glass penetrated cleanly through one side and out the other.

The roars of the beast he currently occupied reverberated through the caverns rumbling everything around him. The large heart, pulsed violently. It eventually started to slow, conforming to strange shapes as the blood was drained from it and it lost it's structure.

Naruto leant against a wall taking in deep gasps of air. He groaned in annoyance as the walls, ceilings, and floors all started to grow black and turn to dust. Naruto stood up just as he dropped to the water covered cage area that he previously occupied.

Like the times before, Naruto focused on his newfound power, curious as what it was. What he gained surprised him. The first two were a single power that he could physically manipulate. The sand he could control with his mind, the fire the same. This though was different, he could actually sense every drop of water in the room, every disturbance affected him. There's no real way to explain what it felt like. It's like trying to explain what its like to be a divine being. It's a thing but it's past a person's conception unless you've experienced it for youself.

For the first time in his life, Naruto truly felt alive, like he was one with the universe. It was a surreal feeling. He was startled though when the water surrounding him began to ripple inwards. It almost seemed happy, that was the closest thing to describing what he was seeing. Turning to confusion the water then churned slowly and shakily. It was then that he realized that the water was reacting to his emotions. While it seemed that he could indeed manipulate the water like the sand and fire it was indeed different than the rest.


	4. Chapter 4

As Naruto willed his new power, he gasped in surprise when the chakra from his feet suddenly disappeared, sending him crashing into the water below. He struggled to move, not able to take a breath earlier he was starting to run low on oxygen. He could feel his lungs tightening, clenching in pain Naruto pulled at his throat. His gaze strayed to his hand for a half second, thinking he saw something curious. Attributing it merely to hallucinating from lack of air or simply being a trick of the water he struggled to the surface. No matter how hard he tried though he found it impossible to ascend.

Every flail of his arm and every stroke he took simply pulled him deeper into the murky depths. He could feel the world begin to grow dark and the last bubbles of air float to the surface. Suddenly he no longer felt the weight that had been pulling him to the bottom. Forcing himself to move he struck out for the surface. Breaking the surface he gasped for air, taking in large amounts and breathing heavily. Using his sand he spawned a small island which he gratefully collapsed on.

"What was that?" he asked himself. He barely had time to investigate before he was struck away by a ball of burning magma. As the young blond sailed towards the cavern walls, he braced for a pain that would never come. Feeling a small vibration, he opened his eyes to face rock.

He had hit the rock wall but wasn't hurt in the slightest. He looked over himself checking his body before noticing the slight change in his skin tone. What he had earlier attributed to hallucinations was indeed his skin. It had turned a deathly gray with the appearance of scales. It had gained a toughness it did not possess earlier and it seemed it had protected him from the force of the hit.

_"I suppose Sanbi came with an additional power. Much like Gaara's defense, hmm?"_ Naruto mused silently.

Naruto picked himself up from the stone and dusted himself off. He watched as the scales on his arms receded back. It was with this that he charged the Yonbi.

Naruto heaved up and down, thoroughly exhausted from the efforts that he had so far put forth. He had fought and sliced and destroyed all the remaining tailed beasts but three. The Hachibi stared him down from within its cage, waiting for its turn to fight the young blond sage.

Naruto eyed the great ox octopus hybrid from outside of its cage, waiting for it to spring forward as soon as the gate opened. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to catch his breath and calm himself in the few moments he had before he was once again forced to fight for his life. He opened his eyes with a confident smirk adorning his face. Taking up his usual brawler stance he waited for the cage door to release the demon.

"Boom!"

Naruto leaped towards the giant demon readying a large magma ball courtesy of the four tails. The blond shinobi reared back to let loose the enormous ball of earthen fire only to find the large beast had not moved from its pedestal from within the cage.

"Gyuki, why aren't you attacking me?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

**"Hm, I know better than that Naruto, I've been watching you all this time. Kurama and I both know what is to come, no matter what. Your headstrong and stubborn ways were always your strengths, not your weaknesses as most others would be. I give myself over to you, so that you may continue to fight and recover your strength. Do not waste your time on old fools like us; we have spent enough time on this earth…"**

Naruto nodded "Thank you then friend, I'll keep you in my heart when this is all over."

**"Haha, speaking of old fools Naruto, where is that man, the sage?"** Gyūki asked.

In a spinning cyclone of fire out stepped the white haired Naruto clone the sage. "Right here you big baby." The sage said playfully. **"Un, I remember when you were all little toddlers sitting around me listening to old wives tales. Brings a tear to my eye."** He said wiping a fake tear away.

The eight tails rolled his eyes and grunted half-heartedly. **"Yeah, those were the days. Seems it's always like that though, only wishing for the old days instead of the new."** Pulling back his monstrous jowls to show what only a beast could consider a smile, he bid farewell to the two of them and bid Naruto to finish it.

Naruto looked at the massive beast in front of him. Currently he was wishing that Gyūki had just fought him instead of lying down. Hell, it would've been easier to slay a blood thirsty animal like the others than the friend that currently laid waiting for the blade to pierce to his skull. Steeling himself Naruto willed his friends death. Glass spikes from the ichibi and niibi sprung from the floor piercing his neck. A lone tear graced his cheek as he silently mourned his friend's passing.

Feeling a sudden weight on his shoulder he turned to see the sage looking at him sympathetically, his eyes also starting to shimmer from tears barely being held back. **"It's going to be all right."**

Naruto nodded and accepted the now semi-ritualistic rush of power whenever he slew one of the beasts. He could feel the immense strength that washed over him. He flexed both hands feeling his tendons and muscles expand from physical strength that he had never even come close to experiencing before.

He was knocked forward a few steps, turning to the sage he realized that the man had disappeared and in his place stood the nine-tails, his nose feet from Naruto's back. Naruto put on the best smile that he could muster and rubbed the tip of the fox's snout. "I guess this is it, huh, you bastard. Even after all the shit that you put me through when I was younger…I still can't find it in me to hate you. Goodbye Kurama."

**"Goodbye, Naruto…brat."** The beast's lips curved into a mocking smile and closed his eyes, curling up into a ball as a dog or a real fox would. **"Just make it quick, I'd like to go as quietly as I can from this god-awful place."**

Naruto prepared to do the same as he had done with Gyūki.

**"I will miss you brat…"** With that the spikes shot up from the floor, sending a stream of chakra entangled with them. Naruto watched as the body of Kurama dissipated, leaving only a few traces of red chakra before even those found their way to his body.

While Naruto had shed a tear for Gyūki, not a single one fell for Kurama. **"He wouldn't want you to…"** a voice came from behind him.

"Huh?" Naruto asked the sage.

**"Cry, he wouldn't want you to. I know you won't either. Whether you admit it or not, you respected him…and he you, very much so I might add."**

Naruto nodded tiredly. Just all of this, he didn't know if he could take it any longer. It was starting to take its toll finally. Battle after battle it had been wearing him down and he was nearly to the breaking point.

"I don't think I can do this anymore…I'm just so tired."

**"Well then, this should be easy…"**

Naruto raised his head just enough to see. The Juubi sat leering at him, waiting to rip him to pieces and tear him asunder.

"Let's just get this over with." The blond said.

The juubi smiled wickedly and jumped through and destroyed the center cage, not even waiting for it to open fully.

Naruto steadied himself as he looked at the monstrous form in front of him. He leapt to the side as a demonic black tail lashed out at him creating a deep indent in the now stone floor. Hit after hit was sent his way. Multiple times he was forced to use the sanbi's skin hardening power to save himself from almost certain destruction.

Naruto soared into the air using the seven tails wings and flew above the juubi. The demon watched intently as Naruto flew into a steep dive and the wings merged into his back only to be replaced by the Sanbi's scale skin and a razor sharp spiral of glassed sand covering his body.

He couldn't help but be amused at the pathetic attempts to use powers such as these in such childish attempts of violence.

"Humans are so…mortal, in their thinking. They really have no creativity." He mused to himself as he watched the spiraling blond be swatted by one of his many tails. The large spiral slammed into one of the walls.

Naruto picked himself out of the crater he created, heaving violently from the impact. _"How the hell am I supposed to beat that."_ He asked himself dauntingly.

* * *

**Outside of Naruto's Mindscape**

Naruto sat polishing and removing all rust form the once glorious blade of one of the Seven Swordsman of the mist. "And it will be again!" He exclaimed to himself. "Right after I get this damnable smudge!" He sat rubbing at the same rust stain that he had been furiously pawing at and at one point literally clawing at trying to perfect the beautiful steel.

"Gah! What is this, it's worse than a decapitated head hanging by a tendon!" The insane blond screamed. A rustle in the bushes made the man jump to his feet, the beaten and battered blade held out in aggression waiting for the enemy to show itself.

His eyes widened with delight when a young girl stepped from the bushes. "Well now, aren't you a pretty little thing." He said cocking his head to the side as he peered at the child captivated by her innocence.

"I'm sorry mister, we heard you scream an- and thought you mi-might need help." The girls eyes wavered under his taut gaze. He looked to the bushes where she was pointing to see two other children hiding, both young boys.

"Well, there is one thing." He smiled at the child, pulling his new blade to hang behind his head like a baseball bat about to be swung for a homerun. "How about your hear-"

He stopped mid-sentence and mid-swing when he looked at the three children. The girl, a bright blond with chubby cheeks, the two young boys, a red head with a string like body and a raven haired boy next to him with glasses and rather gaunt cheeks. Even if they were on totally different sides of the spectrum, he couldn't help but stop at the sight of them. They reminded him of something, of days long gone and forgotten, of his old life when everything was still good and sane.

The children all jumped as the man crashed to the dirt ground rolling with his head in his hands screaming and the sword clattering beside him. The little girl's eyes widened in brief terror before steeling with a resolve and stubbornness that few would possess. "Itei, go get Mr. Matashura and bring him to my house. Konaia, go fetch a stretcher and someone to help carry it. Go, BOTH OF YOU!" The red head and raven haired children both took off to carry out their assigned tasks as the young girl knelt down besides the raving blond. "Hold on mister, we're getting help."

It was nearly half an hour before three men showed up with the stretcher followed by the young boy Konaia. As the men began to lift the crazed man onto it, his hand snatched to the ground gripping the hilt of the enormous butcher's cleaver. As the men desperately tried to loosen the grip of the blond man so that they could lighten the load, they nearly dropped the entire thing when he started thrashing violently as the blade began to leave his hand. Leaving the blade alone so that they wouldn't drop him, the thrashing stopped and resumed again as they tried to loosen his grip. Giving up, they simply forced their muscles to struggle through it and brought the sword with them.

The young girl opened the door for the three men as they came upon her house. Pointing to an open spot the three carriers gently set him down and departed. As they were leaving an elderly man followed by the young red head entered. His cracked and wizened face gave a sense of wisdom to all who met him.

"Hello young Kai," he said with a smile. "Who is this?"

"I don't know Mr. Matashura, we found him out in the forest and he just fell to the ground and screamed." She looked at the man worriedly, panic evident in her tone. "I thought you could help him."

The old man hobbled over to sit beside the male blond, gently untying the horned forehead protector and breathing mask from his head. "Well what is this?" As the forehead protector came off it revealed a small mark on the man's head. A ten pointed pinwheel sat spinning above his brow, throbbing like the man's beating heart.

Gently swiping his thumb across the odd marking or tattoo or seal or whatever it happened to be, he peered curiously at the man for many moments. As nothing happened he started doing basic medical tests, testing everything from his blood to his breathing.

"I'm sorry Kai, but nothing seems to be physically wrong this man. It's something else, I can hook up an IV for him and keep his body stable but otherwise there's nothing I can do."

The young girl nodded and watched the elder gently go to work at setting up the medical equipment. "I'll come back every two days to check up on him." Reaching into his weathered briefcase he pulled out a few small pamphlets and handed them to her. "Take a look at these, maybe they'll help, hm."

The young girl nodded and turned back to the blond. Like the old man Matashura, Kai gently touched the spinning pin wheel. It just felt like regular skin to the touch, like nothing was even moving on it. Turning her face to the man she puzzled over the stranger that showed up to her little village.

Like many of the children, she didn't have any parents having lost them during Gato's reign of wave country. Her village was lucky enough to be an outlying village set apart from the main one where most of the violence took part and eventually the restoration of wave where the bridge was built. She didn't have to worry about her parents coming home and throwing a fit because of the imposing figure lying on the floor, though she wished she did just so that she could actually have parents or had siblings.

She had Itei and Konaia though, and they were all the family she needed. They looked out for one another and would help the other when needed.

She turned from her thoughts back to the topic at hand. Like a young girl would, she took notice of the whisker like scars or birthmarks that adorned his face and instantly became infatuated with them. Reaching out timidly she poked one. When nothing happened she gained the courage to stroke one and was rewarded with a sneeze from the comatose blond. Giggling at the reaction she quit so that he could rest.

* * *

Naruto had been dodging the ten tails for over five hours now and had not been able to land a single hit on the monster.

"Submit before me human, and I'll make this painless."

"As if I'll let you win." Naruto snarled at the demon.

Naruto fired multiple magma balls from in the air at the dark figure. He dodged erratically as the balls were caught and thrown back to crash into the wall. _"I'm running out of ideas."_

Releasing an acidic cloud he pushed it towards the ten tails blinding it momentarily. He dived towards the only place out of sight currently from the monster, its former cage.

Heaving up and down against the bottom of the pit that the juubi was held in, he racked his mind for ideas. "A little help here sage?" He whispered urgently.

"Hello." Naruto jumped when the man's upper half rose from the floor like an apparition. Naruto put a finger to his mouth telling him to be quiet. He could hear the juubi's roars of fury above. "How the hell am I supposed to beat _that!_? I can't do what you did, I can't just seal him."

"Well why not?"

"Because he's already sealed in me idiot!" Naruto whispered furiously.

"Oh, right." He said jokingly. The sage settled into a classic thinking pose with his thumb and index finger arching around his chin. "Forest of Death." And with that he dissapeared.

Naruto looked dumbfound at the spot the sage had just previously occupied. What was that supposed to mean! "What the hell!" Naruto cried.

He looked up when a rumbling resounded off the pit walls. The large black tails started converging down the pit towards the young blond and began to try and crush him. Leaping off of each tail or running along its length he finally bounded out of the hole and put distance between him and the black mass of serpent like entities. Serpent…forest of death…Naruto stood up in full height with realization. He knew what he needed to do.

The large wings immerging from his back lifted him into the air. The tails stopped converging upon him as he looked the juubi into its one massive eye. At lightning speed he soared towards the head of the monster. Avoiding every hit that the juubi tried to use Naruto finally made it before diving straight down towards the beasts head. Encasing himself in scale skin he roared through the air. He watched as the beast opened its mouth to envelope him. Naruto closed his eyes in peace, waiting. Soon all was darkness.

**Read and review...please**


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto awoke to the screaming abyss before him. He cautiously opened his eyes, peering out into the darkness. He wasn't dead…no, worse, he was in the belly of the Juubi. Then again, diving headfirst into the open maw of a massive demon does have its consequences.

Naruto remembered back to the "advice" from the barely helpful sage.  
"Forest of death he said." Naruto repeated mockingly. "I should kill that son of a bitch."

Becoming quite sick of the consuming darkness Naruto blew out a raging never ending stream of purple fire to illuminate his surroundings. What he saw would not even be within the darkest nightmares. This was hell itself if he ever saw it.

Everywhere he looked chakra beings of every form and color leered at him menacingly.

_"What in kami is all this?" _Terrible cackles and jitters echoed from every nook and cranny along the cavernous walls. _"This makes the Sanbi's stomach look like a pick nick!"_

Naruto took a step back as the "demons" started to converge upon him. He turned hurriedly as a large bestial looking creature pounced on the spot he just stood. For possibly the first time in his life Naruto was truly scared. Naruto stumbled on the jagged crevices and threw himself back to his feet to escape the coming horde of fiends. Large multi-headed dog hybrids rampaged through other demons to devour the poor soul that had made his way into their lair. Behemoths swung uncaring into smaller imps and beasts for a bite of the flesh before them. Even the darkness itself seemed to want a taste of the soul that inhabited its lair.

Naruto ran down the never ending corridors of jagged stone and burning rock. The heat, the heat itself was ungodly. It was something that no normal human or being should ever be able to live in, he could literally feel his face burning; the skin peeling away from the muscle and bone only to still be there when he touched it. But the feeling never went away, only unholy pain everywhere along his body. And yet here he was, being forced to endure its heat and not dying from it, no matter how much he wished for it. This was something that only someone or something truly evil could conjure.

**"Naruto!" **

Startled by the sudden outburst Naruto lost track of where he was headed and collided with a low hanging stalactite. Regaining his footing Naruto rubbed his swollen eye before bolting away from the looming darkness behind him. **"Naruto, it's me!"**

"Sage help!" Naruto screamed.

**"Naruto stop, it's all just an illusion. It's the Tsukuyomi!"**

"But the Tsukuyomi is part of the Sharingan! How can this be a genjutsu?"

**"Where do you think the Tsukuyomi came from? All eye technique's came from my original rinnegan which came from the Juubi as well. This is all just in your imagination."**

"But how? How did I become in its genjutsu?" Naruto asked.

**"Before you dove into its mouth, you looked into its eye. He placed the illusion on you then."**

"So I'm still on the floor outside waiting to be crushed?"

**"No, you're definitely inside the monster, but if you don't relax you really will die. Accept it and it will end."**

Naruto stopped and took short shuttering breaths, gasping for air as the fear nearly choked him. As the beasts surrounded and enfolded him Naruto closed his eyes. As he felt the claws and talons grab hold of his skin and tear he reopened his eyes to see nothing but the caverns again, completely devoid of any form of being. He breathed a sigh of relief as he fell to the ground in a heap.

He lay there for what seemed like hours. He hated it but he knew that he had to get up. Struggling to his feet Naruto looked around, eying either side of the passage. He didn't particularly like what he saw, as both passages were shrouded in absolute darkness.

Peering at the path that he had just ran from he noted that it was slightly lighter than the other. Usually that would be the path that one would take when trying to maneuver cave systems like this, but Naruto knew that this was not the case. With his reasoning, the darker the better and closer he would be to the center of the beast.

He thought back once again to the sage's advice, "the forest of death." What he meant by that was when Orochimaru sent the colossal snake after him during the chunnin exams while he attempted to plant the curse mark on Sasuke. He remembered being eaten alive by that thing only to burst from its stomach in an explosion of kage bunshin. In truth this would be similar to the sanbi's defeat but he knew that this would be much more difficult or even impossible.

Like he always had though, he just took it one step at a time and saw what happened. Winging it had brought him this far and he was sure it wouldn't fail him now...hopefully.

Naruto sprinted down the cavernous lengths, the dark abyss getting ever blacker and blacker. Even the Niibi's flames had trouble fighting off the darkness that threatened to fully envelope him.

Without stopping his shoulder grazed a hard piece of rock, ripping the skin and allowing blood to flow. While in the dark he realized, the walls steadily grew nearer and nearer till there was barely any room at all. He knew it was near now, the heart of the monster was only a short distance away. His ears started picking up on something but couldn't figure out what. He had been expecting a heavy heartbeat like with the three tails, but all he could make out was a high shrill, like the rasen-shurikan would make when active.

A faint purple glow started to illuminate the path as he shuffled sideways through the narrow gap. With a last thrust, Naruto threw himself out into what he presumed was the heart chamber.

A great cavern stretched far above him. It was a natural cathedral he realized...well, as natural as a rock formation can truly be in the belly of a demon he surmised.

All along the walls stretched glowing neon purple veins of rock, illuminating the huge room. At the center stood what Naruto had been searching for. A dark orb floating at the middle hovering and radiating energy continuously. The edge of the dark sphere of power was rimmed with a violet glow that cracked and sparked sporadically.

He circled it, examining it for any hint of weakness, any flaw that he might be able to exploit. After hours of tortuous searching and flinging attack after attack at the orb, he gave up, finally relenting to the truth that there was no feasible way to destroy the abomination.

* * *

**Outside of Naruto's Mindscape**

Kai watched the older blond in front of her as he began to sweat profusely. The strained expressions worried her as he seemed to tense up at times, the veins bulging under his skin. Kai continued to dab his forehead with the damp cloth clutched in her small hand.

"How is he?" Itei asked as he knelt down beside the young girl.

She looked at the red head softly beside her and sighed. "I don't know, one minute he's jolting up and down in his sleep the next he's so still you'd think he was stone." Itei peered at the strange man quizzically as he breathed heavily.

"Well he seems to have quieted down this ti-" Naruto suddenly arched in what seemed to be in extreme pain and scared both children quickly away. Itei looked down to see the fair skinned hand of Kai in his. Blushing, Kai jerked it away.

"Sorry, h-he startled me was all!" Coming up with the fastest excuse in her whirring mind. Jumping back to the mysterious man's side, she helped to massage the spasming muscles as they clenched and shook uncontrollably. Eventually they dissipated all together leaving the blond to return to heaving on the bed uncontrollably. "Where's Konaia right now?" She asked shakily.

"I think he's at Mr. Matashura's, continuing his medical training. He had fallen behind again last I heard. Mr. Matashura is probably grilling him hard."

They both knew, that even though he was a kind old doctor at heart, he could be a real tyrant when it came to his medical teachings. Why Konaia ever volunteered to be his apprentice they would never know.

"I don't feel sorry for him haha!" Kai joked, trying to diffuse the lingering awkwardness of the previous incident.

"Yeah, me either." Itei said, playing along.

Both children glanced nervously towards one another, always looking away as the other looked at met gazes.

They were startled again as the another spasm rocked the gasping blond in front of them. Kai returned to her nursing duties but jumped back in surprise as she realized his eyes were wide open, nearly bulging out of their sockets in agony. Large amounts of chakra began to leave his body as well. What scared her the most though were the multiple colors and patterns that were alternating back and forth in his eyes. She would catch glimpses of light green then of deep crimson then a flaming blue. The most constant of these colors were black rings spinning in his eye and a beautiful cerulean blue. It seemed that the black was winning out though as the blue, when it was its turn to show, began developing black rings within it and the blue would turn lighter and lighter with each passing.

* * *

**Inside of Naruto's Mindscape**

Naruto heaved, leaning on one knee as he desperately tried to regain his footing. He could feel himself starting to fade, the Juubi's will was quickly overtaking his and sooner or later he would completely dissipate and leave nothing but memories behind, and the Juubi would reign free throughout the world.

**"Naruto, you aren't ready for this but it might be the only way. Recall back to you're memories of Kurama. Bring up the beast ball."**

Naruto desperately searched his memories pulling up day by day of the life of the kyuubi. He across multiple instances where the Kyuubi had performed the beast ball, two of those being he himself when he was still its jinchuriki.

**"Good, now form it and destroy that vile thing!"**

Naruto nodded to the sage and prepared himself. "Here goes nothing!"

In a fantastic display he expelled every last bit of the combined 9 beast's chakras, surrounding himself with thousands upon thousands of bubble like spheres of multi-colored chakra. He was so intense in his concentration that he did not even stop to admire the spectacle. Willing all of the chakra to come back, he watched intently as they obeyed, all converging into one small marble size sphere at the edge of his fingertips.

Raising the particle to his lips he enveloped it, letting it ride down the back of his throat. It was possibly the strangest thing that he had ever felt, or eaten. His eyes widened in horror as he was suddenly thrown onto his back, the weight of all of the condensed chakra too much to hold up. He knew what was coming next, he felt his body begin to expand to unimaginable sizes. He struggled to right himself for fear of missing his target.

Finally settling onto all fours he aimed at the spinning heart and let loose the dark energy that had been welling up inside of him, a white light, brighter and more powerful than even the sun shot forward into the darkness hurtling at an ungodly speed to strike the dark orb and completely envelope it, reaching far behind it as well to strike the cavern walls.

He lay there for only a few seconds, though it seemed to him hours, before he rose from the crater he had created within the beast's belly. Smiling he looked at the empty space to only nearly break down in desperation when he saw that the beast's heart still shown with that violet purple energy, still beating as strong as ever...or was it.

He narrowed his eyes, searching for something...THERE!

The sphere was spinning so fast he barely could see it but there it was, a crack only so small to slip a finger nail in but it was something. Perhaps this had not all been in vain after all.

Naruto leapt at the spinning ball of dark matter, seizing hold and refusing to let go.

He could feel his skin peeling away, he watched as chunks of flesh disintegrated or floated away. He fingers were now nothing but bone and even that started to erode. He refused to give up though, even though his fingers no longer worked he had a few friends whose did.

Dark black chakra tendrils snapped forward, tearing at the miniscule flaw in the heart, tearing at it wildly. Naruto screamed as he could feel his insides falling out but he continued to push and to tear and to rip till he completed his goal.

Pull after pull, large chunks of the dark sphere began to fall away, revealing the vile purple vitality beneath. Deep seams began to open up, arching and cracking all around the sphere. Even as it spun it would lose bits and pieces of itself, making Naruto's job just a little easier.

It was only just a little bit before whole pieces of the sphere were sliding off to now leave only the energy to remain. Naruto held himself away to realize that he was now completely missing the entire bottom half of his body. Pieces on his arm had burnt away allowing him to see bone beneath the muscle.

Naruto did the only thing he could think of now, as stupid as it will seem later on life, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

He threw himself at the dark mass of energy, enveloping it in a grapple, forming a protective cocoon around it using his many chakra limbs. He closed his eyes and pulled, hoping to kami that this would work. He began to force it into his chakra pathways while at the same time expelling into multiple spheres like before.

He watched as the heart absorbed into his body and exited, filling the entire cavern with the bubbles. The only thing left to do now was to destroy the energy, as even in its current state it supported the life of the juubi. Calling back the spheres of chakra he condensed it like before on the tips of his fingers and ate it.

He closed his eyes and waited. Suddenly he pointed at the ceiling of the rock cathedral and shot the blast of pure unadulterated energy in an upward shot.

Finally he was able to close his mouth again. As soon as he did a small pebble hit him in his eye. He squinted and looked around to see that pieces of rock were beginning to fall, gaining in size with every passing second.

Willing his limbs to regenerate, he climbed up unsteadily. Large house size portions of stone had begun to fall now. He hurriedly jumped up from each boulder to the next, gaining in height with every leap. Eventually he reached the top of the falling hole and bolted out onto the familiar floor of the beast cages. He looked back in astonishment as he realized that the hole that he had just leapt out of was the Juubi's rib cage, the heart cavity now empty and unable to support life.

The large ringed eye leveled its gaze on him, stomping forward the Juubi made its intent clear. Naruto stood his ground though, with each passing step the demon fell in size and disintegrated. Only a few hundred feet were between them now, its fingers fell in a heap, only a few feet in front of him before burning up in smoke.

Naruto could feel his eyes closing and his body falling, but he didn't care, he just wanted to sleep.

**Author's Note: Sorry it always takes so long for me to get these chapter's out. Read and review...please. **


	6. Chapter 6

The smell of salt assaulted his senses harshly. He groggily opened his eyes and took in his surroundings, letting his vision adjust to the light. The young blond glanced around warily trying to remember where exactly he was.

His sharpest memories were of a cave, which this clearly was not. He could vaguely remember anything before that, glimpses of trees, a towering building with a red top...the beautiful swish of pink. For some reason though, every time he tried to place the strange memories he would come up blank. They seemed to leave a sense of want in him but that was it, no true recognition.

He was startled when the door to the small fishing hut swung open blasting him with sunlight. A small silhouette stood in the door frame, who it belonged to would take a little time though as he was currently blinded by the sudden change in lighting.

He looked to his left painfully as he felt a plop land beside him. "Hey mister! Wanna play hide and seek! I'm hiding from my big bro right now!" He grinned as he realized that the high pitched voice belonged to a young boy, probably only around three or four.

"No, not right now kid, sorry." He nudged the kid away playfully, his eyes finally adjusting to the light. Now that he could finally see outside he stared in astonishment as the world around him suddenly gained a vibrance and hue that he had never noticed before. Once again he jumped, startled as a young blond girl walked in, only stopping when she saw the man in front of her sitting on the edge of the small cot.

Bolting back out the door she returned with two other children her age and an older gentleman hobbling behind. "Mr. Matashura, see, he's finally woken up!"

"Yes, I see that young Kai. No reason to point out the obvious." He replied smartly.

Taking the chance and trusting these strange people, he just sat there quietly.

"How are you feeling young man?"

"Haha, like I was hit in the head with a boulder." He replied jokingly.

"Good. Well I'm Mr. Matashura, the doctor of this village. Would you mind if I give you this, uh...test, of sorts...to see if you're of sound mind?"

The older blond nodded in acknowledgement, allowing the elderly man to continue.

The man pulled out a series of pieces of paper, rorschach ink blots to be exact.

He answered to the best of his abilities, and it was only till the near end of the test that he stopped in confusion.

"Well, we've done pretty well up until now." Mr. Matashura commented. "Now for the last one...what is your name."

The blond raised his head confidently and opened his mouth but paused when nothing came to be spoken. He racked his brain, searching desperately for just that one piece of information.

He looked back nearly broken when he confessed that he didn't know. Matashura smirked knowingly. "I figured as much actually, it comes with experience I suppose. You seemed to lack the purpose that comes with an identity. Don't worry, I'm sure it'll come back with time...I'll be back to check on you tomorrow son."

With that he hobbled out the door, shuffling in the baked earth towards an unknown destination.

The older blond hung his head confused, but looked up when a soft hand grasped his. The petite fingers belonged to the young blond girl in front of him. He fought to gain a smile as she smiled at him. "I'm Kai..." she said, introducing herself, turning to the other children in the room she pointed saying, "and this is Konaia and Itei."

"Hello, I'm..." he stopped as he once again came to a halt in his mind, unable to come up with an answer. "I'm sorry, I don't know my name so I can't introduce myself."

He smiled again as the girl in front of him did, it seemed her smile was contagious. "Then we'll have to name you won't we?" She said happily. "How about...Mishi, short for Mishiranu since we don't know you, huh?"

The newly named Mishi smiled gratefully as he felt as if he had something hang on to finally, a sense of who he was, even if it was only a few seconds ago that it happened. Mishi smiled at the young girl holding his hand. "Thank you Kai..."

"Your welcome." she said softly.

* * *

Sakura stood alone in her cramped apartment. She didn't bother to turn on the lights. She hadn't eaten in nearly two days, the only reason she had before that, was being nearly force fed by Ino and Shizune. She had done nothing but sulk for days on end in her darkness.

Naruto's funeral would be held today. A plot had been picked out in the hero's gardens where his empty casket would be laid to rest.

Dropping her clothes to the floor, Sakura stepped in the shower, letting the warm water help ease her sorrow. She stood unmoving for over an hour before she finally stepped out.

Sakura stepped out of her apartment clothed all in black, an orange ribbon tied to her left bicep to show her loyalty.

The pitter patter of raindrops echoed throughout the village as crowds slowly took towards the funeral to show their love for their hero. Sakura looked up, gazing into the heavens, letting the chilling downpour drench her.

Everyone was silent in the gardens. Tsunade gazed at the hole ready to be filled. Tsunade had made sure that his grave was between his father's and mother's, even though she was possibly the only other person besides Kakashi who knew of Naruto's heritage. To everyone else it was simply the Yondaime and a relatively unknown woman beside their hero.

A Shintō priest began to recite the tradtional funeral rites. Sakura didn't really pay attention to any of what she considered mindless rambling, to her he was dead and that's what she mourned over, not the legacy he left behind, but he the person. She wanted her Naruto to be there for her, like he had always been. _"Why, why Naruto...why did you have to leave me...you big baka. I need you, I need you to be here for me. I don't think I can do this alone..."_

Sakura almost broke down right then and there, in front of everyone. All she wanted was to curl into a little ball and cry herself to sleep in the rain. _"No, Naruto wouldn't do that. He'd stay strong if it was the other way around, strong for the both of us, so that's what I'll do too."_

Sakura was the first to approach the altar. No body challenged her knowing full well just how important the boy had been to her, they all knew how much they had cherished each other.

She admired the beautiful yellow chrysanthemum in her hand, she found it oddly comforting. Perhaps it was the close resemblance of his spiky locks to the petals. She placed the glowing flower upon the pedestal next to his picture. The entire altar was ringed by pictures of his life, she smiled at the one of his first genin picture, the one where he had painted himself to look like a kabuki actor or fighter, which one she would never know.

Stepping back to join the crowd, she felt a gentle touch on her shoulder. She glanced over to the see the gentle face of Ino, her only other true friend left. She grasped the hand tightly, needing something to hold onto for fear of losing herself completely.

...Sakura wasn't sure when everybody had left, but the only ones who were still there were the grave diggers filling in the hole that Naruto's empty casket occupied. In a daze she simply started walking, she didn't care which way she went just wanted to leave and get away from it all. Giving one last look at the altar she stumbled away.

She blundered through the forests till she came across an opening. At the center she could faintly make out the form of her scarecrow sensei along with something else. Meandering towards her former teacher she realized that he had been standing in front of the memorial stone. "Hello Sakura..." Kakashi said, breaking the silence and acknowledging her.

Sakura watched as he drew a kunai from his pocket and set the edge to the stone. She stared fascinated as he etched into the obsidian block clearly the name of the boy that she had been longing for so dearly.

Kakashi bent down and blew away the particles of rock. Wiping his hand a few times he simply stared at the name. "It's rough now, but eventually time will wear it smooth...like all things time heals. Just let it have the chance."

That was the thing though, she didn't want to heal. She didn't want to forget him. He deserved that much she believed. "Hai, Kakashi sense." She lied.

...Sakura didn't know when she got back to her apartment, like everything before it, it was all just a daze to her. Discarding her drenched clothes on the floor she crawled into the bed naked as the day she was born. Shivering and sobbing she fell asleep to the sweet sound of rain hitting ceramic shingles.

* * *

Mishi brought in the nets for the third time that day. So far it had been slow fishing. The fish weren't exactly shoaling around today and they had barely filled half of their daily quota. Mishi had signed on with one of the local fisherman as a deck hand a monthy ago to help the local community in exchange for a day's worth of food.

"Throw the net off the port side!" Daisuke called to him. The blond nodded and did as he was told.

It had been two months since he had woken up without his memory. He had gained partial memories though, all of them starting at the mouth of a cave. Kai said that when they had found him he was talking to himself, wearing these strange clothes and polishing this monstrous sword. She took him to her parent's old fishing boat where she had stored everything. He had puzzled at the equipment in his hands, the large hooked and clawed gauntlets. The horned forehead and breathing mask. The tattered cloak and pants and the hulking and imposing cleaver that actually tilted the boat to whatever side it happened to be on. The strangest thing though was the first time he unraveled his head bandages and took the first glimpse of himself. The spinning seal beneath his skin made him jump and fall in the pond he was using as a mirror. He puzzled at the strange thing, the spinning pinwheel was still a matter of curiousness.

He thought back to that day when Kai had shown him all of that and still he couldn't come up with an answer for what they were.

He laughed as he thought of them. Mishi had begun to care for the three children, they were the only one's close to him. Daisuke was relatively close but mainly served merely as his meal ticket. His favorite past time was playing with Kai and Konaia. Itei, the redhead of the group, tended to be the more mentally inclined, enjoying and even going so far as to teach Mishi his favorite board games. Mishi still hadn't quite grasped the concept of Shogi, though Itei's favorite game, Go, was easy to pick up.

Constantly Mishi would find himself staring into the horizon, trying to remember something from his past. Each time to no avail.

"Mishi!" Mishi jumped as he was hit with reel of line, being startled from his daze. "Mishi, you baka, for the third time now, I said to pull up the anchor, we're heading back in." Mishi nodded to Daisuke and walked to the where the captain pointed. He started to pull at the thick rope, eventually hefting the anchor over the wooden rail to hit with a "thunk" at his feet.

He walked to the front of the boat, letting the cool salt air hit against his cheeks as they took inland.

Hoisting himself over the rail, he waded ashore, looping the boat tether to a nearby rung to keep the boat from drifting away at high tide the next day.

Cracking his neck he headed back towards Kai's house, plopping down on the small fishing boat she owned. He stretched out on the makeshift bed he had been using.

Looking out towards the setting sun, watching it as it touched the golden water he thought to himself "I_ could actually get used to this. I have everything I could need." _He smiled as he felt the familiar sensation of soft hands rubbing his whisker scars. "Hello Kai, what have you been up to today? Flirting with Itei again."

"No!" She yelled frustrated and embarrassed. Mishi laughed quietly, it was obvious to him and everyone around of Kai's infatuation with Itei, pointing that fact out also happened to be one of his favorite forms of irritating her.

"You're an asshole onii-chan!"

"Hey, hey! Tone down the cursing imouto. It's not lady like haha."

"That's bullshit and you know it onii-chan!" Mishi shook his head in exasperation, rubbing Kai's head playfully. She swatted his hand away equally as playfully. They had gone back and forth like this for weeks now and it had simply become habit.

"Onii-chan, do you wonder where you came from?"

"Hehe, sometimes I do, I try not to think about it so much anymore."

"Well I think you're probably like one of those samurai. You know, the really cool ones with the big body armor and masks!" Kai said excitedly.

"Haha maybe..." Mishi said chuckling.

Crossing her arms and pouting she exclaimed "You don't believe me do you? You think I'm just lying out of my ass!"

"No, for all I know I could be, I just don't remember...and stop cursing or I'm gonna knock you into next week."

"Ah whatever onii-chan." He smiled as she walked back to her waterside shack.

Settling in, he watched as the last bit of sun disappeared over the horizon, leaving the world in darkness.

Mishi woke the next morning to a dense fog. He knew Daisuke never put in with weather like this so he used these moments to catch a few more hours of sleep. Drifting to sleep he awoke abruptly to the feeling of drowning and the splash of a bucket of water being doused over his head.

He rolled out of bed sputtering and gasping to see Daisuke hovering over him. "Get up Mishi! We need to leave now!"

Gaining his strength, he stood up to see the dense fog still hovering over the water. "Daisuke, we can't see in this. Why the hell are we putting in?"

"Because Mishi, the village is running low on fish and unless we start bringing in a decent catch these people will starve and it'll be all of our fault."

"But, but what about Mr. Arata! What's he doing!"

"Dead, died yesterday, from Fugu poisoning. The idiot contaminated the entire damn fish but only he died, Mr. Matashura is looking after his wife right now."

Daisuke's brow crinkled, nodding he motioned Mishi towards the fishing boat which they promptly made for.

Mishi made to speak but was cut off by Daisuke. "Mishi, I've been sailing these islands for the past ten years, I know my way around."

Mishi nodded reluctantly and unhooked the boat from the rusted rung they had tied up on. Pushing themselves away with an extended ore, he tugged on the whip chain of the motor. The heavy machinery sputtered and kicked up, pouring out fumes into the air behind them.

They moved at a steady speed forward, not putting out much wake as they traversed the many islands and rocks that jutted out of the water. The channel was rather narrow and if you swerved out of it the islands were the least of your worries. Below the surface large jagged spires jutted upwards and if you weren't careful you would impale your vessel on one, leaving you stranded and floundering, no where near any dry land.

Luckily, and by Daisuke's skill as a fisherman and captain, they sailed into open water and opened the sails, following the small showing of light through the still dense fog. Mishi fastened the weathered orange buoys to the thick nets and cast them off the starboard into the dark depths below, letting the line fall freely before regaining his grip and fastening them to the side. He did the same to the port before settling in with a small fishing rod for personal use.

Mishi's eyes were heavy with sleep still, he leaned further back into the wooden lawn chair he brought with him and drifted off happily.

For the second time that morning he awoke to the feeling of drowning and the splash of water hitting him. Quickly he realized that this time it wasn't Daisuke and it wasn't morning. Mishi had awoken in the middle of a tempest. The small fishing boat was being rocked back and forth and nearly capsizing multiple times before Mishi scrambled up to the wheel. The mast had been completely ripped away from the boat and he couldn't feel the rudder anymore. Looking around for his captain he began to panic.

"Daisuke! DAISUKE!" Mishi called out but he received no answer.

Mishi peered out into the thundering darkness, barely able to spot the body hanging onto the small orange fishing buoy. Gasping for one last breath of air he leapt off of the ship and struck out for the far off man.

"Daiuske!" he yelled, finally reaching the buoy. His face turned from a look of joy to shock as he flipped the body to see a shard of wood deeply imbedded through the man's nasal passage, jutting into the brain.

Reluctantly abandoning the body, he pulled himself aboard the drifting ship. He watched as a tall wave cascaded over the body and drug it down to the depths. There was nothing he could do now but hang on for his life and attempt to wait out the flash storm. _"Hell, I don't even know where I am anymore!" _With that last thought Mishi hunkered down and began to wait.

**Thanks for waiting. Where has Naruto/Mishi ended up? Find out next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

Mishi grasped handful after handful of dark, thick sand, dragging himself away from the salty spray behind him. He lay back in utter exhaustion, thankful to have finally felt solid ground again.

He recalled back to the previous night, the howling winds clawing at his face as he held onto dear life. He had been thrown from the ship when a massive wave collided with the boat and washed over the sides, filling the ship with sea water and sending him flailing over the rails.

He had struggled to remain on the surface of the frothing monster long enough to grasp hold of a drifting piece of debris, having broken from the force of the waves, and used it to stay alive.

When day arrived the storm subsided and dissipated, leaving nothing behind. In the breaking hours of dawn he observed mountains on the horizon and struck out for them, using the debris as a life raft.

Mishi thanked whichever ancestors were looking out for him, letting him drift so close to land. The luck for stranded sailors having the same chance that he did was not rare. Most were never heard from again.

His shirt was ripped and torn, barely hanging on by a few threads. His pants weren't much better, only being held up by the leather belt that had been shrunk by the salt water. He ripped the tattered shirt from his chest and started to trudge towards the beach. It was only a few feet before he collapsed from exhaustion. He lay there, staring into the cloudless sky… Funny how it does that, only hours before it was a roaring tempest threatening to tear him limb from limb, now it was as calm as he'd ever seen it. He chuckled at his own musings before rolling over onto his stomach. A thick semi-jungle, semi-evergreen forest lay ahead at the edge of the sandy beach. Over the tall reaching firs and pines he could faintly make out small columns of smoke against the picture of the mountains. _That's where I'm going then._

* * *

Mishi was slapped and raked across the chest by countless thorns and branches. Every step further he took into the never ending thicket only earned him a slap or cut across the cheek. Countless red streaks crisscrossed his now bleeding body. Growing sick of the annoyances he started grumbling and talking to himself. _If only Kai could see me now. _ Mishi trudged through yet another patch of thorns, nearly stumbling and falling into them face first.

His first thoughts of Kai were those of worry, he had grown attached to her and she to him. He wondered if she would be alright, that was before he remembered how tough she was and that she still had Itei and Konaia still. _She'll be fine, I just need to worry about myself for now.  
_

Not paying attention, Mishi fell and rolled over a large gnarled root. Shaking his head free of the leaves tangled in his hair, he glanced up.  
Before him lay a large weathered stone statue, the figure of a young teen stood victorious on the base.

He stared at the figures face, transfixed by the features. It was familiar, like he knew the identity of the stone hero, but still he couldn't quite place where from.

He stared around the clearing he fell in, behind the stone hidden from view, was an overgrown path leading away north. Leaving the monument behind he marched barefoot through the thick woods. It seemed like miles and hours had passed, his feet were blistered and bleeding but he kept trudging through the razor sharp kunai grass.

Suddenly Mishi came to a halt, a glimmering of light shone through the dense flora. He broke out into an all out sprint, blundering through like a crazed animal. He stopped at the sight before him. A temple, as tall as any he'd ever seen. A grand stair case lead up to the main doors. The compound consisted of multiple levels, balconies encircled each wall. Every few feet a guard stood sentry over his post, watching diligently for any intruder.

He took only one step before every guard's attention was drawn to him suddenly.

A voice rung out from the upper balcony above. "Stop, who goes there?"

"I'm a survivor of a shipwreck, our boat was destroyed offshore and I'm looking for shelter!"

"Is there any more of your crew?"

"No, only me." Mishi answered back.

"We shall see..." The mysterious voice answered back.

The ring of guards encircling him parted to allow a tall figure through. The man in front of him wore the features of a wizened strategist, a man who had seen war many times, a serious face who has seen the worst and survived to tell of it. "I am captain Subeta. You are to follow me to the holding cells till we are assured of the safety of this temple."

Mishi knew to not argue, going against a man like this would get him no where except on the way to becoming a corpse. He was marched, spears to his back, to a small side door.

* * *

The dark passage, occasionally lit by a torch, lead further and further down below ground. The air was musky and rotten, the stone floor cold and wet against his beaten feet. Mishi was at last placed in a large room lit by two candelabras on either side of the stone room. He was given a plate of stale food and a blanket to keep warm with.

There he sat for hours waiting, waiting for someone to come to fetch him and welcome him with open arms. He didn't know just how long he sat there, there were no windows and no visible sign of time passing.

The creaking of the wooden door caused him to leap to his feet, anxiously awaiting whoever would walk through.

The door revealed the imposing figure of Captain Subeta standing there. "You are to be released."

Mishi nodded, having awaited this chance for days. A second guard waked through the door carrying a large bronze key. The fumbling and clinking of the tumblers as the key was fit into the door echoed through the stone room. Finally with a creak the large steel frame of the cell door swung open.

Mishi strode forward, Captain Subeta in front and the second guard behind.

* * *

He was given a small room among the servants of the temple, allowed to work for his quarter while he stayed. He took pride in his work, along with the other servants while he toiled away in the beautiful compound. The maids would whisper and point at the new comer or gossip about others while the butlers held an air superiority and formality while they went among their business.

While waxing the pine floors he overheard one of the maids whispering to the other. "I hear the lady is finally returning home, its been what seven months?"

"Ay, even longer that she hasn't found a husband yet. She's still young but that ain't the case is it? Suitors falling at her feet and she done throw every one u' them away."

"No surprise at that is it, every since that boy ran off she had her heart set on him."

"He ain't come back though, so no since in waiting."

"Ay, there be plenty of good looking men out there."

"She supposed to be arriving tomorrow morning I heard. You know what that means!"

"No morning chores!" the other responded excitedly. "We still got'a get up for the receiving though."

Mishi wondered at the mysterious woman who they spoke of. He had yet to hear a name but he supposed he would find out eventually, tomorrow most likely.

* * *

Sakura traveled alongside her sensei Kakashi through the dense trees of Konoha on a routine border patrol. The occasional bandit was the most excitement they got while doing these. They finished and handed the task off to the next team at the checkpoint. Arriving at the Konoha main gates, Kaskashi and Sakura showed their jounin badges and passed through.

Just as they were about to walk away Kotetsu called after them. "Kakashi, Lord Hokage wanted to see you. I was told it was urgent."

They both nodded to the gate keeper and hastily continued on their way to the tower.

Sakura knocked on the oaken doors. A quick enter and she pushed it opened.

"Sakura...Kakashi, I'm glad to see you. I had to see you as soon as possible."

"In love with me that much eh, Hokage?" Kakashi joked.

The older woman cast a demeaning glance at the special jounin. "Now that is a response I would've expected from Jiraiya, don't tell me you're picking up the slack now that he's gone?"

He scratched the back of his head timidly, "No, just trying to lighten the mood Hokage-sama." He knew only a few months ago she would've knocked him through the wall for that, but ever since Naruto died, and before him Jiraiya she became increasingly withdrawn and less violent. Everyone could see it, the young boy was the center of her world and after the sage passed she just couldn't handle it any longer.

"Sakura, do you remember your trip to demon country, the priestess Shion?"

"Of course Lady Tsunade."

"Yesterday I received a message from her." Tsunade expanded.

At this point Kakashi was thoroughly intrigued. It was with no hesitation that he asked "what of?"

"Naruto."

* * *

Mishi stood in line, along the balconies of the temple overlooking the courtyard at the base of the stairs. The pattering of the hooves of stallions echoed over the forest. Soon row upon row of white horses ridden by temple guard emerged into view.

In the center of the pack a white carriage shining with brilliance of a diamond rode. The roof was covered offering no view of the occupant inside.

At last the caravan slowed to a halt.

Captain Subeta stepped up to the carriage and grasped the handle, still shielded from view he grasped the hand, pale and fair, of the lady. Mishi gasped and his eyes widened at the sight of the beauty of the girl before him. Her perfect figure and frame left him speechless while her face nearly caused him to lose himself.

Suddenly, amidst his fawning over the girl before him, a strange sense came to him. Recognition. _I know her...Shion_

A flurry of memories hit him so hard he lost his breath, becoming physically doubled over from the recollections. _A demon, a fox, and a village hidden in the leaves. _

Naruto shook his head, desperately trying to remember more, he only knew a brief bit of his past but still it was something. He remembered a girl with pink hair destroying huge boulders with her bare hands. He remembered a giant dragon coming towards him and somehow destroying it. It was all so confusing and aggravating.

"Naruto!" He heard but paid no attention, his name being Mishi. It wasn't till he looked back up and made solid eye contact with the beauty did he realize that she was talking to him.

_Naruto...that's my name!_

He leapt from the railings three stories above, landing with all the ease of a seasoned warrior.

"Shion!" He cried, running towards her.

She leapt into his arms as he approached causing them to fall to the ground, her face over his as they laughed at finally seeing each other for the first time in years.

"Naruto! What are you doing here you baka, how come you didn't let me know you were here?"

"Shion, can we talk about this in private?"

He watched her as she gave him a confused look before nodding.

She pushed herself off of him with a grin and helped him up. "Captain Subeta, I trust you to make sure everything goes fine."

The captain nodded before turning and commanding to the rest of his troops to fall out.

* * *

Naruto walked with Shion to her quarters at the peak of the temple. "Naruto, I'm so confused, why are you here?"

"Believe me when I say I'm just as confused as you."

"Why do you say that?" She asked.

"Can we sit down somewhe-" He was cut off as a guard burst in through the door.

They were both startled by the intrusion. She asked "Do you need something guard?"

He said nothing as strode towards them. Naruto's instincts suddenly kicked in as a glint of steel flashed before them. As the man lunged at the priestess, in a flash of movement, he intercepted the man's arm and broke it before stabbing his elbow into the man's throat, collapsing the esophagus. The thin knife clattered to the floor.

Shion screamed as the man fell writhing and grasping at his throat, struggling to pull in air. The sound of feet echoed down the halls. Dozens of guards rushed through her doorway. Three of them ran to Naruto and flung him on the ground, pinning him with their knees. The others began to pick up the writhing man to take him to the infirmary before Shion yelled out. "No! Let him up, he saved me!"

Pointing to the imposter she said "That man is an assassin. He saved me when he attacked us." motioning to Naruto.

By the time she finished the would-be assassin had stopped moving and lay limp in their arms dead. Reluctantly the guards removed their knees from the young blond's back. Naruto watched her as the guards left the room, standing just outside. She looked shaken up but not as much as he thought.

He was surprised when she threw herself into his arms, crying into his shoulder. He simply sat there, his hands at his sides not sure what to do. Timidly he placed his hands around her, rubbing her back. It was the only thing he could really think of at the moment. Eventually the tears and sniffling started to slow till finally they stopped. Lifting herself from his shoulder she wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks.

"I'm sorry Naruto." He nodded, he still was getting used to his new name. _Or was it an old name?_

"It's alright Shion." He reasurred her.

"I would've thought that I would be used to these by now." He could tell she was trying to act strong for him.

"What do you mean?" He asked back.

"Well you know how it was. The villager's have always been afraid of my ability to predict a person's death. The majority have grown to no longer be afraid, a select few though, like the man just now became radicals instead, hating and fearing me even more. This was only the third attempt on my life in the past year."

"You can predict a person's death?" He asked astounded.

"You know that Naruto, I used to tease you for hours when you were here last, remember?"

He smile and said "I'm sorry Shion, I can't quite remember much now'a days."

"What do you mean?"

He began to relay to her the events since waking up in the small fishing village. At last fingering the head bandages he still wore, he unwrapped them, revealing the spinning seal underneath. "What is it?" She asked.

"I don't really know myself."

Shion then relayed all she knew of him, letting him have his first real taste of his former life. By the end of their stories it was night.

Chuckling, he stood. "I think its time I go back to my room, don't want the maids getting any ideas now do we." He teased.

"Oh who cares what they say and gossip about. There's no way I'm letting my protector spend the night in those crummy old rooms anymore. You'll be spending the night here with me from now on."

He didn't really know how to argue against it. "Fine, I'm not going to sleep in the same bed as you though, do you know what kind of impression that would leave?"

"I told you I don't care what they think."

He shook his head 'no' again. "Fine." She said dejectedly.

He watched as she strode to her closet and pulled a spare floor mat from the side. He went and helped her, laying it down next to her much larger bed.

"Close your eyes Naruto." He was confused till he realized she was intending to change in front of him. He quickly closed his eyes not wanting to invade her privacy. He was almost tempted to open them, she was indeed beautiful and she knew it too.

"Goodnight my handsome protector." Naruto blushed at her very obvious flirting.

"Goodnight Shion." He replied sheepishly.

Naruto settled down, pulling the covers to his neck, finally sleeping well for the first time in weeks.

He awoke in the middle of the night to a face full of light blonde hair. He realized that she had slipped under the covers beside him while he was sleeping. She pulled his arm over her in her sleep, snuggling into for warmth. Laying down to go back to sleep he subtly pulled her closer, bringing her further into his well built frame, smiling as he did so. It was in this position that he fell asleep, and the happiest that he had been since he could remember.

**Please review!**


End file.
